Final whistle proves thief of time for United

Flying high: Aston Villa's Darius Vassell celebrates his early goal against Manchester United

By Henry Winter

9:06PM BST 26 Aug 2001

Aston Villa (1) 1 Man Utd (0) 1

WHEN Sir Alex Ferguson retires, his employers will not need to present him with a clock. Constantly checking the stop-watch he keeps on games, the Manchester United manager was angered yesterday that referee Graham Barber added on only an extra four minutes at Villa Park.

Although it seemed a fair allocation during which United, being a side who never give up, duly equalised, Ferguson performed his human catherine-wheel impression on the touch-line at Barber's decision.

But if any manager deserved sympathy it was John Gregory, who had watched his Villa side perform superbly only to be pegged back in injury-time. "To be honest, I thought Mr Barber was pretty generous with the four minutes," said Gregory.

Related Articles

Ferguson disagreed. "Four minutes is a joke," he said. "People are getting robbed out of entertainment. There should have been 14 minutes at least. Check the game; I bet I'm not far off.

"There were four injuries at least, four substitutions and, every time they had a goal-kick, big Peter Schmeichel took a minute to get the ball. If there had been the proper amount of time, we would have won it."

A draw was the fair result, given Villa's counter-attacking vibrancy and the persistence and possession of United, for whom Juan Sebastian Veron again varied play beautifully.

Chasing Darius Vassell's early goal, United eventually made their point when Alpay conceded an own goal.

"You always expect Manchester United to come back at you," said Gregory. "They're such a quality side, they never admit defeat.

"I'm trying to remain calm but I'm on fire inside. It's very disappointing but we can take heart from a fantastic team performance against the best side in the country.

"I'm particularly upset for big Peter, because he did everything."

Schmeichel was outstanding against his former team-mates while Villa were also well served by the industrious Mark Delaney, confident George Boateng and the lively Vassell, as well as a 4-4-2 system which suits them well.

Vassell's goal stemmed from the type of swift strike United usually specialise in. Lee Hendrie began the move, seizing on a loose ball in the middle which he transferred left to Hassan Kachloul, who was breaking into space left open by Gary Neville.

Kachloul, preferred to David Ginola, allowed United no time to prepare their defence, cushioning the ball's sting and then immediately crossing for Vassell to score from six yards past Roy Carroll. Signed for £3.5 million from Wigan Athletic, Carroll made an otherwise promising debut as understudy for Fabien Barthez, who damaged his hamstring in training.

Ferguson had again paired Wes Brown and Ronny Johnsen but the back-line patently lacks communication and authority and Vassell continued to worry both centre-halves.

But United always have scoring potential. Van Nistelrooy (twice), Scholes (twice) and Keane all tested Schmeichel, who was also relieved to see a Van Nistelrooy lob float over the bar.

However, there was nothing Schmeichel could do when Keane flicked on Ryan Giggs's corner and the ball flew in off Alpay.